I posted recently about the First Presidency's message. I got an email sent stake-wide from our stake president suggesting a lot of members of my church are struggling with their testimony. I have heard some things about Facebook as well, though I do not spend any time there anymore.

Here's some of my simple testimony. Hopefully it will encourage you, and maybe be a source of inspiration for others.

In times like these, I hold on to the following fundamental facts:

1. The ONLY important thing is your relationship with Christ. Hold on to that. Everything else is secondary.
2. The purpose of the church, prophets, even the scriptures, is to bring you closer to Christ. If something is driving you away from Christ, cut it off, pluck it out, get rid of it. The grand test is whether we are faithful to Christ.
3. I was taught that we follow the prophet when he speaks by the power of the Holy Ghost. We are under no requirement to obey the prophet when the spirit doesn't confirm it to us. We are free to experiment by faith, but we are not obligated to do things that we don't have a testimony of. It was the same during the period of polygamy -- if you were a member of the church and you didn't believe in polygamy, you didn't have to follow it, teach it, endorse it, or anything like that. We have never ever tested our membership based on their willingness to obey every random little thing.

If you feel like the first presidency or members are driving you away from the church -- just assess whether you believe you are doing what Christ wants or something else. Re-orient yourself, hold true to the things you know, and make it your purpose to follow Christ above all else. I am sure the same advice would've applied in the 1800s as well as it does today. Being a member of this church is not meant to be a pleasure cruise, but a crucible where Christ is trying to refine us until we can be worthy to inherit the mansions he has promised us.

Hold on, things will only get harder, not easier.